on our way to the festival city, we were delayed on the road by this familiar sight - a proton wira's backside! i was so excited to see a malaysian car driven on dubai road! first time nampak...
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when i first saw this yellow accordian-like thingy in fluffed toy version, bookmarks and notebooks - full merchandise on sale at a stall in a mall - i was asking myself what IS this thing? i'm sure it must be a mascott of some sort, or based on a cartoon show in dubai?
then i started seeing yellow everywhere - literally! this yellow sunny-headed, slinky-bodied thing is sitting on roundabout landmarks, road signs and even life-sized statues of it can be seen standing with arms outstretched on grassy corners of busy roads!
who, or what IS this thing?
several blogs i stumbled upon amusingly described modhesh - one as having an 'eternal ray of annoyance', since it can be found practically staring at motorists at road junctions and corners all around dubai. another describe the character as a 'result of a banana and a slinky having an affair'! some described it cutely as a 'yellow jack-in-a-box', while another commented it looked more like a 'baby tape worm'!
then i found it he is 'modhesh' - the mascott of the 'dubai summer surprises' - the tagline for the dubai summer sale (something like msia's mega sale carnival). with its infectious wide grin and bright sunny color, gulfnews even described him as the 'mickey mouse of the middle east' for its popularity with the kids.
"Modhesh, which is Arabic for amazing, is a jack-in-the box with tufts of yellow and blue hair above his face to symbolise rays of sunshine."
~ from gulfnews. click here to read more!
at festival city, we spotted this life-sized modhesh standing at the entrance of ikea! i really wanted to take a shot but both khaleef and kahfi were asleep so i didn't have the excuse to take a picture with this adorable character who seemed to be attracting only kids!
so, i stood beside modhesh, just minding my own business, not really posing for any camera - and mr. khairul took a shot! hihi.
i don't understand why people have to be so annoyed by modhesh (looking at several postings in different blogs). there's even a 'kill modhesh' facebook group out there but if you ask me, i love modhesh! he's yellow (my favorite color) he's smiling all the time and it's so cute that they're placing him everywhere around dubai! it brings a smile to see him sitting on an otherwise empty grass space.
what he represents - the psycho-urging to spend, spend, spend - that's something we can decide to do, or not to do - on our own. don't blame it on modhesh!
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it's hard not to talk about the shocking passing of the king of pop, michael jackson.
i never listed him as my favorite artist, but he's undoubtly one i cannot take my eyes off whenever he performs. one whose songs i can memorize from constant listenings, one whose news and stories never fail to capture my attention.
like everyone on the planet, i started looking for michael jackson's music videos via youtube, or clicking to mtv or channel v for their sure-fire tribute to the pop legend. just last night we watched cbs' 'the life and death of michael jackson' - and we watched the summary of his big break with the jackson 5, his shot to stardom, his music, his ever-altering face, his bizarre lifestyle and his untimely death.
on a lighter note, we started to exchange our own personal commentaries throughout the tribute:
"he's a good looking black dude. apsal dia nak jadi putih!"
"dia nak jadi diana ross. tak percaya?"
"masa ni dia hitam lagi.."
"ha..masa ni dia dah weird.."
"kenape when he speaks is different than when he sings? lain sangat!" (after which mr. khairul would demonstrate his very bad impression of michael jackson speaking)
"uish tapi tgk dia menari. uish rilek gile."
"i don't think dia larat la pun nak buat 50 gigs kat london tu."
"eh, imagine if he collapse during the london concert...dramatic gile."
"uish, sape-sape yang pegang tiket concert tu juta-juta la worth dia."
"ni dah la. masa ni hidung dia dah weird."
"kenape dia nak tukar muka dia!"
"kan you cakap dia nak jadi diana ross tu!"
and we watched in awe his video clips; the pioneer of music vids with stories - thriller. "tapi, ala p.ramlee kan dah buat dulu hantu klua kubur ni.." haha.
..and we started to pick our favorite mj's music video - i love 'remember the time' for its song and 'the way you make me feel' - which i think is michael's sexiest, most manly music video, considering how effeminate he was during interviews. mr. khairul loves the song 'dirty diana' while he admires michael's suave moves and awesome footwork in 'smooth criminal'. agreed!
we even tried to do the moonwalk during commercial breaks, laughing as we failed miserably!
for khaleef and kahfi, they'll know michael jackson the way my generation appreciate frank sinatra's music i guess. call him a madman, an acquitted phido or wacko jacko - but he is already a legend, giving us awesome music to last forever, and powerful performances in the span of his career. i'm anxiously waiting to see how the american music award would show its tribute to him.
he may be gone, but his music lives on!
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